Learning Style

Learning styles... this is something that I have been reminded of time and time again as I have attended Differentiated Instruction (DI) conferences this year. On a personal note I am more closely aligned to a visual learner than to any other learning style. From a multiple-intelligences angle I think that I would have a close tie between visual and verbal. That said, I remember in my days as a student doing just fine with information that my teachers gave to me either through lecture or with visual representations. One thing that I realized though was that I had to take notes; I was not one of those students who could just listen and retain everything (my wife can vouch for this). Personally I liked lecture more than projects because I could create visuals in my notes if needed and I could short-hand notes so that they better suited me. Where I really struggled was when my teachers tried to shake things up by having us move around the classroom (kinesthetic learning style) in an attempt to make some grandiose point. 


As a teacher now I am now attempting to make sure that I do not overload one learning style over another because I realize that not all students learn best the way that I did/do. That is where DI comes in... one of the points is that you identify how students learn best and then come up with periodic lessons/activities that allow students to explore the content using the learning style that best suits them. Here is an example below:

•      we all have key vocabulary we want students to learn but instead of making them copy down the term from the back of the book, you can allow them to explore the word through their preferred learning style...
• Visual learners --> create a picture that depicts what the word means.
• Kinesthetic learners --> create a body movement that depicts what the word means.
• Audio learners --> create a brief song that depicts what the word means.

This is one way that I can periodically address different learning styles in my classroom. The one thing that you must keep in mind is this (and some people may disagree with me and that is fine)... you do not need to address all the different learning styles with everything that you do. First, this would take way more planning time than there are hours in the day (if it is going to truly be good instruction). Second, students still need to be able to operate/learn outside their comfort zone. As teachers we would not be preparing them for college and for the real-world if we  never made the kinesthetic learners write a paper for instance. Also, one must take into consideration that students most often fall under the visual or audio categories. Therefore, we should at least make sure that our lessons connect to one or the other, if not both.

That said, teachers still do need to kick their habits from time-to-time and be more creative in the classroom. My first semester teaching after my student teaching year was disastrous. I entered into a school that was on block scheduling and one of my classes met for four hours on Fridays! As a new teacher I was stuck in lecture mode because in my head I thought I had to know a lot more than my students and I was terrified of the "I don't know" response to questions that they may have had. So by lecturing the students were often too busy writing to ask any additional questions. However, those Friday classes were awful! By second semester I wised up and realized that I did not have to know everything, nor was it my job to know everything. My job was to teach students how to learn (they can look up facts on-line), they needed to know how to find connections and think critically. So I began mixing things up, creating more projects/assignments which allowed for different learning styles to thrive, and I saw improved student performance/attentiveness. 

So to sum things up... addressing different learning styles is definitely the way to go, but do not stress out over trying to do it every single lesson! The average student falls under either the visual or audio category.

Creative Commons

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: "WWII Vickers machine gun emplacement"
http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/82/65/826521_ab07e8ef.jpg
By: Evelyn Simak
  
© Copyright Evelyn Simak and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence



So the question of the day is how do I see myself using images in my curriculum? First and foremost I use images like the one above as warm-ups in my classes. The students look at the image and then they must dissect it by answering several questions:
     - What objects do you see?
     - What people do you see?
     - Where do you think this image was taken?
     - When do you think this image was taken?
     - Why do you think this image was taken?
     - What questions do you now have after looking at this image?


We then discuss the image and clarify why exactly I had them look at it in the first place. An image like the one above would set me up for a conversation about WWII as an example of what soldiers were up against. The other reason why I bring images into my curriculum is to add to my lectures for those visual learners. The problem with lecturing is that many visual learners need a moment to re-create the scenes in their head. So I like to pause periodically and throw images up as a way to help my students gain some relevancy to what we are talking about. Finally, I display personal pictures in the classroom at the beginning of the year as a way to develop a connection with my students. Almost all of these pictures surround my two dogs but I have from time to time shared an amusing high school photo of myself (see picture of my dog Manny below).




Flickr Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76862621@N06/

PC Maintenance & Security

For the purpose of this lab I chose three different tutorials. Given the state of my home computer right now, I really was interested in the maintenance more than the security. Right now I am lucky because I have a fairly quick lap top that my school allows me to take home, but in the summer time it is back to the grind with my Toshiba.

The first tutorial I looked at was the "Msconfig" video. One of the things that I hate most about my Toshiba is that it takes at least four minutes to boot up and almost as long to shut down. I never really considered looking at the programs that ran automatically and shutting down the unnecessary ones as a way to end the madness. The information in this tutorial did not really surprise me, it just made me more aware and a little embarrassed that I never considered checking this before.

The second tutorial I looked at was the "PC Maintenance Checklist" video. Given the fact that I already dodged a bullet when the motherboard crashed on my work computer but all of my files were safe, I have been trying to remember to regularly update my computer and back up my files. The checklist provided in this tutorial gave me a much more organized way of going about this. What surprised me is that I already did all but two of the items, Msconfig and PC Pitstop. I already corrected my ignorance on start up speed with the first tutorial I watched, so I set out to correct another error in my ways with the last tutorial I watched.

The third tutorial I looked at was the "PC Pitstop" video. I was excited/surprised to know that one website (pcpitstop.com) can check out the performance of my computer and flag any potential issues without me having to do all sorts of individual scans. That feeling grew even more when the video explained that most of the operations can be done for free. I will definitely begin using this website in the future.